This transcript of part of a Thrive15.com training, one of the most practical business consultant firms, showcases master business coach Dr. Zoellner (Optometrist & Venture Capitalist) & lead business coach Clay Clark (Entrepreneur of the Year by the US Small Business Administration) talking about checklists.
Clay Clark: Okay, I don’t usually trust them, and I’m not going to satisfy because I continue to be a bad driver. But I’m a great business coach.
Dr. Zoellner: I know. People change seldom, that’s why we get injured drivers.
Clay Clark: So, now we’re moving on here to the service profit chain. Another quote from the Harvard Business School professors.
They said … These guys, by the way, studied UPS, Southwest Airlines. They’re studying companies like Disney World, and they’re saying how do these companies build successful businesses?
That’s why there’s so many successful people that come out of Harvard Business School, because they know what they’re talking about. This is the quote.
He says, “The perceptions of priorities were quite different at the 2nd and 3rd levels of management than at the top.”
They went into these companies and researched them, and they said to the boss, “What is the objective of your call center,” and the boss says, “To book speaking events.”
They go to the low level guy. “Just make calls. I just try to make calls. If I get 500 calls, I put my name on this list, I’ve won. I’ve put my name on the list, I put the tally mark on the board. I’ve won.”
They go to the boss without their business coach. They say, “What’s your job,” and he says, “Our job is for every Dairy Queen to produce at least a million dollars of gross revenue, and $200,000 in profit.”
They go to the frontline guy. “My job is really I just have to punch in, and punch out. I’ve got to make sure I’m here, physically, behind this thing,” and so, as you go down the food chain, the people who have the wrong perception tend to stay there, and the people at the bottom that have the right perception tend to move up, but there’s always a big disconnect between the guy at the top, and the guy at the bottom.
So, I want know from your … How important is it, from your perspective, to communicate to your managers what your expectation is, from you?
Dr. Zoellner: It’s almost a daily grind. It’s almost a daily occurrence, if not weekly. I say daily. Even without your business coach. The thing about it is you can’t overload them with everything, but I think every time you’re talking to them, you’re always highlighting, you’re always talking about, and you’re trying to put your DNA into them is really what it’s about, and you do that by spending time with them. You do that by taking them to lunch. You do that by talking with them. You do that by coaching them up. You do that by sharing with them your dreams, and your views, and what your goals are, and you’re just trying to take your DNA and put it in, and you’re trying to clone yourself as best as possible, is about the only way I can it.
Clay Clark: I want to say this for somebody’s who watching, and maybe doesn’t understand what’s going on here business coach.
What Dr. Z is saying is people change, seldom, in terms of their character traits, but somebody who is coachable, is coachable.
Dr. Zoellner: Right.
Clay Clark: So, if you’re coachable, you can impart your DNA business coach. So, example, we had a young man who came to work for me years ago who had no discernible skills, but he said, “What can I do better?”
I remember that. What can I do better, and you just don’t hear it. Well, years later, he’s out doing his very successful company right now, and he’s into industries that are way above his pay, are way above his degree level, or his certifications, or I think if anybody said, “Well, Dr. Z, but you’re an optometrist. How do you have any business racing competitive horses that are actually winning? How are you qualified, Dr. Z, to go out and run an auto auction? What is your pedigree,” but if you’re coachable, you’re coachable, so you’re looking for that coachable person …
Dr. Zoellner: Absolutely mister business coach!
Clay Clark: … and then imparting your DNA.
Learn what you need to know about management in your business from Lee Cockerell (man who managed 43,000 people at Walt Disney World Resort) on Thrive15.com, one of the most practical business schools in Florida!
Dr. Zoellner: Yeah, that’s what really it’s about. I mean, you’re trying to impart your vision, your dream, your passion into that person, and you can’t do it completely, but you try to do as best as possible, and that is that replication. That is that duplication. That is that if I’m not there today, I know that they are doing things the way I would do it.
One of the questions that gets … People come to me … My management team comes to me with a problem and say, “Dr. Z, we have this problem,” and they outline the problem, and when they’re done, I look at them and I go, “Hmm. That is a problem. Now, what would I do to fix that,” and they look at me and I go, “Well, you’d probably do xyz,” and I go, “You’re right. Now, do xyz,” and they’re like, “Okay, cool.”
Clay Clark: I want to ask you this. Do you then write down, on your list somewhere, what those people are supposed to do so that you can follow up with them later? How do you keep track of it with all the different companies you have?
Dr. Zoellner: Well, if it’s a big thing like that, I don’t typically write that down, but I do follow up on them. It’s just part of my … I have my checklists, and some mental checklists, that I go through.
It’s part of my … People say, “What do you do every day,” and I go, “Whatever needs to be done for that day,” and that’s a lot of it, and the other thing, too, is that coaching people up like that, and then having them do that, and then following up with them on that, is kind of my stuff, that’s my job, and that’s what I do.
So, every now and then, I will write it down, just to jot, because if it’s a long term thing, it’s going to take a month for that to happen, it’s going to take a whatever to happen. On my big calendar on my desk I’ll just circle back around to it, but as a general rule of thumb, those are the things that I do on a daily basis.